Maryland to Award Cultivation, Processing Licenses on Aug. 15

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Officials overseeing Maryland’s medical marijuana program plan to announce winners of cultivation and processing licenses on Aug. 15, the Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

The move, should it materialize, would galvanize Maryland’s medical cannabis industry, which has experienced numerous delays in the licensing process.

The state will reveal which applicants receive the 15 cultivation and 15 processing permits allowed under the law, though winners of dispensary licenses will be announced later this year, according to the Sun.

The state has delayed the licensing application process due to overwhelming interest: it received 146 applications for the 15 available cultivation licenses, 811 applications for the 94 available dispensary licenses, and 124 applications for the 15 processing licenses.

The state said it received roughly four times as many applications as it expected.

The waiting game has been frustrating for many of the entrepreneurs who threw their hats into the ring, given that it can be expensive to simply sit around and wait for an answer on a license application.

At the earliest, the industry in Maryland will launch sometime next year.